flynn011

Rocky is just now 8, and though she should be in the 2nd grade (year 3) if she went to school, she's in the 3rd grade (Year 4) Shillermath book. Rocky, the (not always) model student! Some of you may be thinking: "Oh, that's all right for you!  She obviously has the genes/the talent/the instruction/(insert explanation here", but let me tell you, this is the most free-wheeling, doll-playing, coloring-book-addicted child I've ever seen. Yet, somehow, she picks things up. (I've just deleted the phrase "just by listening", because I'm not sure she even does it by listening -- when we do our read-alouds, she can rarely muster up a decent narration beyond "There was this guy ... and he rode his chariot to this other guy ... and he shot him in the head or something" -- Rocky's version of 2 Kings 9 where Jehu shoots Joram in the back with an arrow. Kudos to her -- there WERE two guys, and there WAS a chariot, and someone did some shooting.)...

Recently, I read the most amazing book for homeschoolers by Barbara Rockett called  Homeschooling at the Speed of Life .  She had many excellent points, but the main one that stuck with me was that people are more important than things, and if things are getting in the way of your relationships, then you really must do something about the things! So, convicted deeply, I decided step one would be to sort out the very first room in my house: the porch.  With four children and a husband who never gets rid of shoes, regardless how hole-y they are, I had a serious clutter problem there. These aren't actually my shoes, but it gives you the idea! We were using the tall Trofast buckets you get at Ikea, one for each child, and a row of 4 hooks for their jackets.  However, as the children grew bigger and bigger, their jackets draped over the youngest one's shoe bucket, thus covering it up.  To get to his shoes, he would toss the jackets on the floor. They would get trampl...

Here is a page from this year's scrapbook we're making to go along with our study of Our Island Story up until the end of the Tudors. (In previous years, we tried to do the whole book in one year, but felt we missed out on so much fantastic stuff, we slowed our progress this year). Scrapbook Page on Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine There are four items that make up the double-page spread, though true to form, Phoenix has added some cartoons and labels that weren't exactly in the plan for everyone. The items are: Map of Europe showing the Angevin empire under Henry II's control and how he had more of France than did the King of France at the time. The link is here:  http://tinyurl.com/ceufo39 A cross-shaped book which, above, is labeled "Turmoil". Inside are some quick facts about Henry II. With the cross-shaped flaps open, the topics are Henry's castle-building, the "acquisition" of Ireland, and his burial in France. A booklet of the story of Th...

An on-line forum I belong to (OxonHE on Yahoo!) brought up a very helpful reminder today of the important legislation for HE-ers in England.  I thought I would review it here. First and foremost, we parents are the educators of our children, and we MAY -- should we choose to -- delegate this responsibility to schools. If educating at home is so flexible and fun, why would anyone want to delegate it??? Therefore, we must never let the Local Authorities forget that they aren't ALLOWING us to home educate -- that right is ours from the beginning. Here are the salient points of law: 2.4 - Parents are not required to register or seek approval from the local authority to educate their children at home....local authorities are encouraged to provide support where resources permit 2.5 - The DCSF recommends that each local authority provides written information about elective home education that is clear, accurate and sets out the legal position, roles and responsibilities of both the local ...

Is that ...? Is that ...? It IS!!! Baldrick from Black Adder (not that my mommy ever lets me watch that show!) Through the Oxfordshire Home-Ed grapevine, we heard that the actor, Tony Robinson, was going to be giving a talk to primary-aged students in Oxford, sponsored by Blackwells, the local publisher and book shop. Perhaps you know Tony Robinson as Blackadder's sidekick, Baldrick, or more recently, as the front-man for the documentary series about archeology, Time Team. Tony Robinson explaining why we started a half-hour late: it was a broken train! Robinson has recently embarked on writing a series of Horrible-Histories-style books about the empires of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Great Britain, and is soon to release two books about the World Wars. Although we have read the one about the Romans before and thought it was so-so (the highest marks went to the translation of "There's a banana in my ear" into Latin), we didn't want to miss a chance to hear an author t...